


The Replacement

by uisceB



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fake Dating, General Danvers Monthly Prompt, general danvers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 08:32:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13830393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uisceB/pseuds/uisceB
Summary: General Danvers Monthly Prompt: Fake DatingMonths after helping the DEO destroy Myriad, Astra is trying to make a place for herself as a new agent by leading a mission into the criminal underworld of National City. Unfortunately, she needs a human partner to help her, and Alex Danvers is determined to be that human. Even if it means resorting to becoming arm candy at an alien casino and tossing every ounce of dignity she has right out the window.Worth it?Probably.





	1. Chapter 1

There were better ways of getting someone’s attention than throwing a bō staff at them, but Alex sort of wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries.

“Hey,” she barked as she pushed open the training room door and snatched up two bō staffs, tossing one to Astra, who was wrapping her hands in front of a punching bag.

The Kryptonian turned, catching the staff easily out of the air, giving Alex a severely annoyed look.

“The answer is _no,_ Agent Danvers,” she said before Alex could get another word out. She twirled the bō staff absently, and a little warningly in her hand before resting the butt of it on the floor.

“I’ll fight you for it,” Alex said, double-checking to make sure the low grade Kryptonite lights were on. By _fight_ she didn’t mean she wanted to be torn limb from limb. “If I beat you, you take me on as a partner instead of Winn. If you win, then fine, bring him, risk botching up the first mission J’onn’s allowing you to head.”

Astra lifted an eyebrow. “J’onn isn’t _allowing_ me to do anything,” she said, voice measured. “I’m well aware I haven’t _atoned_ for my sins enough that I’m actually a part of your little playgroup here at the DEO. What he _is_ doing is wisely deferring to my judgment with regards to this particular mission, and my judgment is that _you_ are ill-suited to be my partner in this.”

Alex grit her teeth, fuming. She’d thought the two of them had been getting along sort of well since Astra had given up Myriad to the DEO and moved in with Kara. She’d thought they even had something close to fun sometimes. They’d certainly spent enough time watching crappy TV together, trying (and failing) to cook together, running together, sparring together…Alex wasn’t completely sure she wanted to admit this, but over the past several months, Astra had sort of become the closest thing she had to a friend. She _liked_ being around her, she looked forward to it. They’d fallen into a comfortable, easy pattern, sometimes teasing each other, using their shared love of martial arts to settle silly disputes. It was playful, almost. 

But now she suddenly wasn’t good enough for Astra to take her on as a partner to take down a crime ring run by manufacturers of a new brand of synthetic Kryptonite?

“How the hell am I _ill-suited?”_ she demanded. “Actually—more important, how is _Winn_ somehow _better_ -suited than I am?”

Astra cocked her head slowly. “Is that jealousy I’m detecting?” she asked.

Alex ignored the flush of heat at the back of her neck and snapped, “You’re going undercover to an alien club. _Undercover._ Have you _seen_ Winn? He’s awkward, clumsy, he can’t keep a secret for his life…he’s the _worst_ partner you could have chosen for this.”

“He’s intelligent,” Astra countered, “and mathematically-minded. He falls short of Kryptonian intellect obviously—“

 _Obviously._ Alex almost rolled her eyes, but was too angry.

“—but he’s smart enough to be taught our games,” Astra finished. “This isn’t just a _club_ , it’s a casino. The aliens who frequent events such as this bring humans who are well-versed in their culture in order to impress others—that means playing our games. Gambling. It’s a one-upping business. Winn may be clumsy and awkward as you say, but he’s intelligent enough to learn these things on short notice.”

“Okay, but I wouldn’t need to be _taught_ at all,” Alex pointed out sharply. “I already know most of those games—Kara taught me when we were younger, and we still play them sometimes when there’s no one else around for game night…and—and _fuck_ Winn’s ‘intelligence!’ I’m not exactly stupid, you know—“

“Alexandra, I am not doubting your intelligence,” Astra interrupted. “I thought it’d be obvious by now, I know you to be among the cleverest minds here. But that’s not the issue.”

“Well—then what is?” Alex demanded, quickly brushing aside the annoying compliment before it could affect her in any embarrassing way.

“You are much too hot-headed for this kind of thing,” Astra told her. “You’re impulsive, temperamental, and seem to honestly believe that violence is the answer to most things.”

“I do not think violence is the answer to most things,” Alex argued disbelievingly.

Astra lifted an eyebrow. “Did you or did you not just come barreling in here demanding to physically fight me to get Winn’s job?” she asked pointedly.

“I—you—Winn’s going to fuck everything up!” Alex shouted angrily, hurt because sparring actually _was_ a way they liked settling things. Not anymore, apparently. “I’m trying to do—I’m trying to do what’s best for the mission! This guy we’re trying to take down, this kingpin, is selling synthetic _Kryptonite_. _Kryptonite,_ Astra. You need someone with you who can actually have your back if things get out of hand.”

“What I _need_ is a human escort to bring along to this club,” Astra said. “I’ll have my Kryptonite inhibitor—“

“—Which may or may not work against _synthetic_ Kryptonite—“

“—And I am more than capable of handling myself if things get rough. This mission does not require me to have a partner who can fight, it requires me to have a human… _pet.”_

“A pet,” Alex echoed dubiously. “At the briefing earlier you said it was like an escort. I think we were all picturing something more along the lines of a date.”

Astra sighed. “These people—these _aliens—_ who will be there, they’re the social elite of the crime world,” she explained, “and there are those of your species who…enjoy that atmosphere. They crave the exoticness of it, they like being shown off as if they’re prizes. They like the adventure. No doubt they’ve fooled themselves into thinking it romantic, but for the aliens…it’s somewhat of a joke.”

Alex clenched her jaw. She was no stranger to alien elitism, but to hear about fellow humans romanticizing that? That made her feel kind of sick.

“Humans are prone to fanaticism,” Astra went on, looking only slightly apologetic about that assessment, “and it’s become fashionable to show off how adept someone is at accumulating human admirers. Particularly ones who are remarkable in some way, whether it’s because of their looks, or their brains, or their success, or their strength. It’s a mark of the social elite in these crime circles to show their humans off.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“Yes it is,” Astra agreed, “but that doesn’t make it any less true. It’s likely I would be turned away at the door if I tried showing up to this event without a human on my arm—I wouldn’t be considered ‘elite’ enough. Winn is an accessory. He may as well be a fashionable handbag. He’s not unattractive, and he’s smart enough to partake in whatever games this club hosts. He’s my distraction. These aliens enjoy fawning over one another’s humans. He’ll keep them occupied while I try to find our kingpin and his stash of synthetic Kryptonite. _That_ is what I need in a partner for this mission. I need…a passably compelling human who doesn’t really… _do_ anything. _You,_ by complete contrast, would likely start a brawl within fifteen minutes of being there and blow the entire operation.”

 _“No_ I wouldn’t,” Alex argued, “I would be there to protect you. I can pretend to be a useless human pet-date-handbag-whatever, but if things go south, I’d actually be able to help you in a fight. Unlike that limp noodle you’re planning on bringing.”

Astra sighed harshly, getting frustrated. “I don’t need _help_ in a fight, Alexandra, and I don’t need you to protect me,” she said. “There’s no reason for there to even _be_ a fight. Technically, there’s nothing illegal about these people buying Kryptonite. It’s illegal to manufacture it, and to weaponize it, and by extension sell it _as_ a weapon…but the guests of this event aren’t doing that. As far as we know, they’re buying trinkets. Technically at this point, they’re not doing anything illegal. They aren’t our target.”

“Sure, not _yet,_ but you know they eventually _will be,”_ Alex grumbled. “People don’t want Kryptonite just for looks.”

“I’m aware, Alexandra,” Astra placated. “But I’m trying to do things by your human laws here. To show I can be trusted.”

Alex looked down, stung into silence. She sometimes forgot— _how_ did she forget?—that Astra was, or had been, against them. That she had been their enemy. Of _course_ she was trying to do things by the book. 

It didn’t make the situation any less frustrating, though.

“The idea is that I get in, identify our mysterious kingpin, locate his stash, and then take him in,” Astra went on. “No needless violence, no making a scene. This needs to be a clean sweep. We could very well knock out a huge portion of the upper tier crime lords in the city, but we need to be careful about the way we do that. And _you_ are too prone to disobeying orders.”

“I only disobey orders when the orders in question don’t make any sense,” Alex growled. She huffed, spreading her arms in exasperation. “Just let me help you, let me keep you safe!” 

Astra blinked slowly and Alex added quickly, “So that you can get the—the guy we’re—I can keep you safe while you do your job.”

“I’ve already said no, Alexandra, do I honestly need to say it again?” Astra asked. “Or are you going to throw another stick at me hoping I’ll give in?”

Alex fidgeted irritatedly as Astra turned from her. “You’re just scared you can’t take me in a fight,” she taunted, a sort of desperate attempt to keep her attention.

Astra turned back to her sharply, that raised eyebrow looking particularly severe. She stalked forward, and without warning, spun her bō staff under so it hit Alex in the back of her legs, sweeping her completely off her feet.

Alex landed hard on her ass, grunting out a garbled, “Ow—fuck…”

She glared up at Astra and started to sit forward with a grumbled, “That wasn’t fair,” but was halted when Astra crouched fluidly, pushing her down into the floor with the broadside of the bō staff pressed against her neck, and her knee pressed into Alex’s chest. Alex pressed her hands up against the staff, struggling in sudden, unexpected panic as she felt the breath being pressed slowly from her lungs.

“You were saying?” Astra prompted.

“This…doesn’t count…not a fair fight…” Alex gurgled.

Astra smiled, something dark and slightly venomous, and Alex’s pulse jumped at the near predatory look of it.

“Aesthetically speaking,” Astra mused with a quirk to her lips, “you’d make an excellent date for this event. Too bad you had to spoil it with that temper.”

That said, she released her hold on Alex’s throat, and eased her knee off her chest, getting to her feet and bringing both her bō staff and Alex’s over to the weapons rack against the wall.

Alex tried one more time to convince her to take her instead of Winn, but only succeeded in coughing and wheezing before falling back in humiliated defeat.

*

She stayed up late that night going over the briefing notes for this mission, and found herself both scowling and smirking by turns at what she read.

The scowling came from this:

Someone was manufacturing synthetic K. Its first appearance had popped up about a month ago, when Supergirl had been attempting to prevent a completely garden variety break-in at a museum. Stopping the robber should have been the easiest thing in the world. But as it happened, all he’d had to do was strike Kara in the face, and she had been sent spinning, disoriented and in pain, unable to stop him. 

When explaining the situation to J’onn later, she mentioned that the robber was wearing a set of green glowing rings on his fingers. If she hadn’t known better, she told them, she’d have thought those rings were Kryptonite. But every ounce of Kryptonite in the world was held at the DEO Headquarters. There was no way any of it could have fallen into the hands of a civilian—particularly a civilian human.

Ultimately, it was Astra who cracked this particular case. This was the part that made Alex smirk:

Astra was definitely not content with the idea that someone had injured her niece. She had been working somewhat warily in conjunction with the DEO for a few months now since destroying Myriad on their behalf and helping them take down Fort Rozz. Mostly she had just been accompanying Supergirl on her patrols, trying to relearn how to be a productive and less violent member of society.

She’d been doing well, but there was a second incident where a job that should have been simple went haywire because a seemingly insignificant, petty criminal was somehow armed with Kryptonite trinkets. And then there was a third. And a fourth. 

Astra had donned her Kryptonite inhibitor and shadowed Supergirl. When a fifth attack came, she followed after him, and beat him within an inch of his life in order to get answers about the K.

Alex knew she shouldn’t smirk about this, but she couldn’t really help it: Astra repeated this process _several_ times. It wasn’t to intimidate or bully, but she was bound and determined to figure out how Kryptonite was falling into the hands of petty criminals who were using it against her niece. And if that meant beating the ever loving shit out of half a dozen people, then so be it. 

Astra gave Alex shit for her temper, but Alex was pretty sure that was kind of a pot-calling-the-kettle-black situation. When it came to protecting her niece, and the rest of the humans she had sort of reluctantly taken under her wing, Astra was ruthless.

Fortunately, that ruthlessness actually paid off. They were able to learn through Astra’s “sessions” with these criminals that they were not donning true Kryptonite weapons and trinkets, but a synthetic compound that could replicate Kryptonite’s effects on a Kryptonian. Apparently, there was a man—whether human or otherwise, no one seemed to know—who had figured out how to synthesize it, and was now selling it to the highest ranking crime bosses in the National City underworld. These people, in turn, were selling it down to the petty criminals as well, effectively constructing a network of criminals who could now fight off Supergirl, Superman, and any other Kryptonian who got in their way.

Astra had been unsuccessful in finding out the root source of this synthetic K, or how people were getting their hands on it, until the seventh attack. This attacker was not human. She also had a record that could be traced through the NCPD. With a little violent persuasion from Astra, she revealed what she knew about the synthetic K trade, and the so-called kingpin who helmed it.

No one had an ID on the kingpin, this woman told them. All anyone knew was that every few weeks, he rented out clubs or bars or casinos, inviting the wealthiest crime lords, not just from National City, but from all over the world. He didn’t have any particular interest in harming Supergirl or Superman, but he knew there was a profit to be made in selling Kryptonite to people who _did_ want to take down the Supers. 

Profit, of course, was a relative term. He was wealthy enough as it was, and delighted more in the power play of having control over the one substance that could hurt, or even kill a Kryptonian. So rather than simply selling through the normal channels, he made it a game. Holding these parties, getting people to gamble away their life savings, or simply their dignity for the chance at a sliver of synthetic K to make them immune to the Supers. Games were held, fights, races, parties, auctions…it was more about the competition, and the thrill, and the decadence, for whoever this kingpin was. Their goal was chaos, not money, which just meant that potential buyers were even _more_ ruthless, because they were the only ones who had anything to lose.

During her last “interrogation” Astra was able to glean the address of the next trade party. It was in one of the back rooms of a lesser known club both run by and primarily frequented by off-worlders. The nature of it was the same as usual, catered toward alien crime lords who wanted to be able to go about their business with no interference from the Supers. Of course, because it was a whole social ordeal, and money loved to show itself off, a good portion of those invited weren’t actually interested in the trade—they simply wanted to _be_ there. To show off their wealth.

And that’s where the human fetish scene came in. 

It wasn’t _fetish_ in the way Alex would have come up with. There was no leather, no chains, nothing of that sort (unless a particular pair just happened to be into that). No the human fetish scene was very simply just…a pairing. These alien crime lords loved to be admired, and there were simply far too many humans who were basically _groupies_ , just loved being swept up in the glamor, getting in sordid affairs and loving every second of it.

And now, according to Astra, those relationships were practically a ticket in in their own right. An alien crime lord with a human admirer, or date, or escort, or pet, or even a spouse, was seen as above his or her peers. You simply didn’t go to events like this if you didn’t have a human.

Now Alex was frowning again. Because when Astra had briefed them all on this at the DEO, it had been very clear that either she, Kara, or J’onn would have to play the role of alien elite, and an agent of the DEO would have to play the role of human fetish.

Kara was obviously a poor choice of an undercover alien crime lord—people knew what she looked like. Humans were apparently easily fooled by a pair of glasses, but alien crime lords were more astute. They were well aware of who she was, and would be on her in a second if she even managed to make it past the front door.

J’onn was a viable option, but as the director of the DEO, he really needed to be in a position where he could give orders to the rest of the agents and not be tied down playing a role. 

So that left Astra as their most trusted immediate alien ally who could go in undetected.

And Alex…well, Alex had sort of just assumed. Just, stupidly, stupidly assumed that Astra would pick _her_ as her human date, or pet, or whatever, because…well because they really _had_ been getting along. There was trust there, there was honesty, there was…there really was fun. 

So when Astra had chosen _Winn_ as her human partner, Alex had sort of blown a gasket.

She sighed in frustration, setting aside the briefing notes. This mission, this… _event,_ was going down tomorrow night, and J’onn had insisted on her taking the night off. Didn’t even want her on the strike team that would be waiting outside the venue. 

Alex was absolutely sure that decision was made because Astra had put him up to it, and Alex couldn’t figure out why. If _Alex_ were heading a mission—any mission at all—she’d want…well, she’d really want Astra as her partner. Not just because she had all of Kara’s powers, but because…she just thought they worked well together. It was frustrating and more than a little painful that Astra had dismissed her so immediately. And for _Winn._

Alex scoffed. Her ego was bruised, that was all. And she wasn’t about to stand for that. J’onn may have ordered her to take the night off, which…fine. She couldn’t be Astra’s partner _or_ be part of the strike team. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t hang out at the bar across the street from the venue. Didn’t mean she couldn’t wander over to check out the club. She knew she wouldn’t be admitted into the back room where the event itself was taking place, but no one could stop her from hanging out as close to the venue as possible. Just in case.

Intentions set, she was finally able to convince herself to go to bed. 

Maybe Astra had a point, she thought with a grumble. Maybe she really _was_ bad at taking orders.

*

As it turned out, Alex was fucking right—Winn was, in fact, the _worst_ human Astra could have chosen as her date to the K trade event.

True to the decision she’d made the night before, Alex went ahead and got comfy at a bar directly across the street from the venue. She knew from their briefing that the plan was for Astra and Winn to stalk a couple they knew to be guests of this event and, frankly, punch them out, and take their invitations in order to get past the doors. Not exactly an _elegant_ plan, but…whatever worked.

Alex watched carefully as several couples went into the club, probably just on _normal_ dates, and then finally—exactly what she was looking for. A human man and a woman whose species Alex couldn’t identify from here, were pulled abruptly into a back ally by unseen hands. After a moment, Astra emerged from the darkness, Winn’s arm draped over her shoulder.

Alex squinted, then sighed out, both in annoyance, and kind of in self-satisfied triumph.

Winn was…not exactly conscious. On top of that, he had several swollen marks on his face, slowly forming bruises if Alex had to guess. Obviously their targets had put up more of a fight than expected in order to hold onto those invitations.

Alex watched as Astra sort of half-dragged Winn over to a bench outside the club, putting her fingers to her ear and saying something, likely something into the comms. Likely something about how they were going to need to abort mission because limp noodles make for useless partners. Just like Alex had said he would.

Smug as she felt right now in how right she’d been, Alex still hated the idea that they were going to miss the opportunity to bring in the kingpin just because of Winn’s ineptitude. Who knew when they were going to get the chance to find out when and where the next event would be held? And who knew how much synthetic K would be spread around tonight? However much it was, it would be that much more of a threat to Kara, to Clark, to Astra…

No, failure was not a fucking option. Alex stood, tugging her leather jacket into place, and stalked outside the bar, making her way over to Astra. The Kryptonian heard her approach of course, and turned, eyes widening in frustrated surprise as she saw her.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

And Alex opened her mouth to say _I’m here as your replacement date_ —but there was sort of a problem: the way Astra was dressed. Alex hadn’t really planned for that.

If Astra was stunningly beautiful on a normal day (which…god, fine, she really was), then this was just insane. From afar, it seemed like your average sexy little black dress, with the subtle blue glow of the Kryptonite inhibitor stitched into the upper strap. It sort of took things to a different level however with the _perilously_ plunging neckline, the slit up the right thigh that put nearly the entire length of her muscular legs on display, and the small, triangular cuts in the sides of the dress that hinted at abs made of fucking steel beneath.

Needless to say, when Alex tried to get the words _I’m here as your replacement date_ out, she managed to say, “I’m here to—“ and then promptly tripped over her feet and fell to the ground.

She rolled pretty gracefully back up to her feet, so she was pretty sure she saved face on that one, maybe even looked kind of impressive. Well, probably not, but she was going to lie to herself here. She straightened up, tugging her jacket back into place, and blew her hair out of her face.

“I’m here as your replacement date,” she said successfully this time, even managing the slightest hint of a swagger.

Astra stared at her disbelievingly. “J’onn explicitly ordered you not to be part of this mission,” she said sharply. “I heard him.”

“Well J’onn’s not here, and I’m kind of your only option,” Alex pointed out.

“J’onn is on his way here to pick Agent Schott up, and we’ll have to make due with one of the other human agents,” she said. “I’m not about to just give up on this mission, but _you_ are not to be part of it.”

“Why are you being so annoying about this?” Alex exclaimed. “I’m your _best option._ Okay, the rest of the DEO agents, they’ve spent time around aliens, but almost exclusively in a fight-and-detain capacity. _I_ grew up with Kara. I’ve worked with J’onn, _knowing_ what he is, for years. And you—well I, we tolerate each other pretty well I think. Besides, I frequent alien bars all the time…I know how to, y’know, _function_ around people who aren’t human. _And_ I’m less likely to get my lights punched out like _him._ Let me help you, Astra.”

Astra considered her for a long time, muscles in her jaw working. Finally she sighed, and pressed her fingers to her ear. “J’onn, I’m leaving Agent Schott outside the venue for extraction,” she said into the comms. “I’ve found another way in.” She dropped her hand from her ear and looked at Alex with an annoyed lift of her eyebrows. “Happy?”

“Very,” Alex said, honestly feeling pretty pleased with herself.

“Fine then,” Astra said, and held out her arm. “Shall we?”

Alex stared at her arm awkwardly. “What’s…what’re you doing?” she asked.

“You wanted to be my human, so act like it,” Astra said. Now it was her turn to look a little smug. “You’re my pet, remember?”

Alex scowled, but took her arm anyway, following her lead up the steps to the club.

They made their way through the main space. It was fairly non-descript as far as clubs went—flashing lights, pulsing music that threatened to shake the entire foundation of the building, a heavily supplied bar stretching from one end of the floor to the other. Really, the only thing note-worthy about the place was the fact that there seemed to be very few humans in the mix of dancing and mashing bodies. A few were scattered here and there, but this really was an alien club.

At last they reached the far end of the space to a door roped off with red, guarded by a very large horned man with what looked like several claw marks on his neck. Definitely not someone to be trifled with. Alex felt Astra squeeze her hand, and wasn’t totally sure what to do with that information.

She looked at her, surprised when an easy smile crossed the Kryptonian’s face as she looked up at the bouncer. The only time Alex ever saw that smile was when she was around Kara, _never_ with a stranger. Who knew she could actually force some socially acceptable niceness on her face around other people?

“Good evening,” she said to the bouncer, smoothly handing over the invitation she had relieved her target outside of. 

The bouncer took the invitation, but hesitated in letting them in, peering at Alex austerely. 

“This is your human?” he asked Astra.

Alex tried not to choke as Astra unexpectedly snaked her arm around her waist, drawing her in close.

“Is there a problem?” Astra asked the bouncer sharply.

The bouncer looked Alex over. “She’s a little scruffy,” he commented. “You didn’t have any other clothes to put her in?”

Astra turned to her, running her fingers along the zipper of her leather jacket and then splaying her hand possessively across her hips, winding her fingers in the hem of her shirt. Alex hitched in a breath.

“She’s dressed exactly the way I want her to be,” Astra told him at last.

Alex’s pride rebelled at that, and she flipped the statement slightly, adding in, “She likes a human who can actually take her. You think _I_ look scruffy, you should’ve seen how disheveled she was when I had my—“

“We have a well-balanced relationship,” Astra interrupted through gritted teeth.

The bouncer looked back and forth between them for a moment before shrugging finally. “Fair enough,” he conceded. “It’s your love life.” He unhooked the red cord barring them, stepping aside so they could pass through.

“If you were one of my soldiers,” Astra growled at her under her breath as they passed through the darkened hall, “I would have had you dishonorably discharged a long time ago.”

“Yeah, well I’m not one of your soldiers, Astra, I’m your partner,” Alex said. “And your super hot date.”

“My pet, you mean,” Astra corrected, sounding strangely bitter.

“Nope,” Alex said, with a proud tilt of her head. “Never that.”

She was surprised when Astra pursed her lips in a kind of satisfied-looking smile. “Well, good,” she said.

Alex was going to ask her what she meant by that, but they’d reached the end of the hall and were now spilled into the main space of the K trade event. Words promptly failed her as she gawked around at the scene before them.

The main word she was coming up with was…glowy. The overhead lights were dimmed pretty low in general, but everything from the booths to the chairs to the bar to the card tables were lined with neon crystal-like lights. Even the drinks were somewhat ominously luminescent. There was also a large serving staff of half-naked hosts and waiters with that neon crystal either painted or—Alex hoped not—embedded in their skin, up the sides of their thighs and arms, sporting glowing piercings in their ears, noses, tongues, brows…probably other places. She watched the—she kind of wanted to call them _bedazzled—_ hosts gliding from table to table, offering drinks, and taking money which tended to result in them getting pretty up close and personal with either the person they were serving, or that person’s human. 

“So it’s…kind of a sexy party,” Alex said, feeling suddenly extremely uncomfortable.

“That woman I interrogated did say that a lot of the people who frequent these events come more for the atmosphere than the actual K trade,” Astra said, sounding a little stunned as well in spite of her foreknowledge. 

“So we’re in a room packed with alien swingers is what you’re saying,” Alex said. She turned to look at her. “Just so you know, if you try to hook me up with anyone here, I’m breaking up with you.”

Astra smirked. “I think you’re taking this ‘dating’ role a little too seriously, Alexandra,” she said. “Now we should really—“

“Welcome!” exclaimed a sudden and very chipper voice to their left. Both Alex and Astra jumped, turning to see one of the glowy bedazzled hosts coming over to greet them. The host didn’t have any determinable gender that Alex could see, though that may have been because of the heavy coating of green glitter painted all over their body.

“Is this your first time to the K trade?” they asked.

“Oh, no, we come to these all the time,” Alex said quickly.

The host looked at her in surprise, and Alex remembered she was supposed to be…a pet. Probably not supposed to take an active part in the conversation unless directly addressed.

“Well…just, as a reminder,” the host said, shifting their gaze back to Astra a little uncertainly, “the card tables will be open for the first hour. We’ve got Xviel being played at this table, Mor-nil on the left, Allid over at the back…and some of the humans have been requesting poker and craps, which are being played over on the far side.” 

The host looked amused at the fact that humans were being humored like this, then continued. “If you are gambling, the prizes are strictly synthetic K accessories, typically jewelry. Light, but effective if you need to make an escape from a Kryptonian, or simply to give to a friend or admirer for looks. Kingpin’s been hiring jewelers lately…these things look _amazing_ , not as bulky as before. Unless…” they looked at Alex’s watch appraisingly, “you’re into that kind of thing. Those can be picked up at the end of the night at the teller over in the far corner.

“Synthetic K weapons can _only_ be purchased during the auction,” they continued, and Alex’s stomach flipped. _Weapons?_ No one at the DEO had been aware that this stuff was being weaponized yet. They’d assumed that development was on the horizon, but they hadn’t suspected it to become a reality this early in the game. 

“The auction will begin at 11 and end at midnight. Until then…have a walk around, play some games, rub elbows…all staff members are available for lap dances, and anyone marked with a green handprint is willing to swing for an agreed-upon price. Do either of you want to be marked as such?”

“No!” both Alex and Astra exclaimed loudly at the same time.

The host blinked in surprise.

“Just…” Astra said, putting her arm around Alex, “we’re exclusive at this point in time.”

The host looked a little wistful, a smile crossing their face. “That’s so nice,” they said. “You get a lot of show pieces here, but every once in awhile…I guess I should have known when your human spoke up for herself.” Their eyes were practically shining. “You two make a beautiful couple.”

With that, the host made their way off across the floor to see to the other guests.

Alex turned to look at Astra smugly. “Hear that?” she asked. “We make a _beautiful couple._ Bet you wouldn’t have gotten that compliment if _Winn_ were on your arm.”

Astra rolled her eyes. “We don’t have time for jokes, Alexandra,” she said. “You go get us drinks, I’ll start looking around. We need to find out where they’re stashing the Kryptonite, and try to find out who among this mass of cretins is responsible for its distribution.”

Alex lifted an eyebrow. “Did you seriously just order me to get you a drink?” she asked. 

“We’d look a little conspicuous walking around without one,” Astra said. “I guarantee you sobriety does not exist in this place.”

“We’re more likely to look conspicuous if we’re walking around with drinks in our hands looking for a stash of K,” Alex countered. “What we _should_ do, is _both_ get drinks, play some games, rub some elbows like that host said, and, y’know…schmooze. We’ll get more information talking to these guys than just wandering in circles.”

“You never struck me as an expert at ‘schmoozing,’ Alexandra,” Astra said with a raised eyebrow.

“I feel like there was an insult in there somewhere, but I’ll have you know I can schmooze just fine when there’s booze involved,” Alex told her.

“Why does that not surprise me,” Astra sighed. “Alright, we’ll do things your way for now. Just…keep things to schmoozing. Keep things light. There are likely to be people here, both human and alien, who may talk about Ka—about Supergirl. They’re likely to make some pretty unpleasant remarks. I need to know that you’re not going to take that to heart. Punching people in the face is not going to do us any favors.”

“Back at you,” Alex said. “Are you going to be able to keep your cool if anyone trash talks your niece?”

Astra held Alex’s stare, fire in her eyes. It gave way to amusement after a moment. “I guess that’s fair,” she said. “We’ll keep each other in check, how about that?”

Alex couldn’t help but snort a little bit. “Not totally sure how well that’ll go, but we can try,” she said.

Astra smiled, and it was kind of stupidly pretty, so Alex turned and led the way toward the bar. She knew her attention needed to be focused on locating the K stash and trying to ID the kingpin, but…this was kind of fun in a way. Being with Astra like this…it was just kind of fun.

She leaned her elbow on the bar, catching the bartender’s attention and bending over to see what they had for recognizable drinks. Absolutely nothing. Everything was some kind of weird glowy concoction.

“We’ll have two of uh…that,” Alex said, pointing at the luminescent green liquid.

The bartender looked—yet again—a little surprised that the _human_ of the relationship was speaking, but didn’t comment on it, instead grabbing a couple glasses.

“Alex,” Astra hissed, nudging her elbow and pointing at a couple across the bar. They were drinking the same green concoction, which had stained their mouths neon green, making their lips glow as if they were at a black light party.

“Um—on second thought,” Alex corrected quickly, stopping the bartender, “do you have anything that _doesn’t_ do… _that?”_

The bartender looked over at the couple she pointed to, and smirked. “Sure, anything except the green’s just fine,” he assured her.

“Uh…that blue one then,” Alex said, pointing. “Neat. Neat?” she asked Astra.

“Neat,” Astra confirmed.

The bartender poured the drinks, sliding them over before turning his attention to another, sort of rowdy guest and her date. 

Alex took a sip of her drink as Astra led them over toward the edge of the gaming floor. “It’s not bad,” she commented. “Kinda…mineral-y, but…not awful.”

“It’s made from a plant that can only be harvested on the moon in the Loc system,” Astra told her, taking a sip as well. “It’s a fairly common drink there, but prized as rare everywhere else. You could get it practically free on that moon, but I’ll bet our kingpin paid a fortune getting it here.”

Alex cocked her head at her, feeling an odd smile cross her face. “It is so wild thinking about everywhere you’ve been, what you’ve seen,” she said. “I mean you’ve had such a… _life._ I mean. I’m not trying to minimize it or…or glamorize it, ‘cuz I know a lot of times you were at war, but…do you ever miss that? Traveling all those places, seeing those amazing things?”

Astra actually laughed. “Careful, Alexandra, you’re starting to sound like the rest of these human _groupies,_ fawning all over how _exotic_ my life has been,” she said.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Alex said. 

“No, I know what you meant,” Astra said, voice gentler. “And…no, to answer your question. I don’t really miss it much. I loved it at the time, but now? I’m just…I’m glad to have a home. And a family. I’m not in any hurry to throw those things away.”

Alex took her arm, stopping her. She winced a little preemptively. “Was that…was I just super insensitive right now?” she asked worriedly. “I mean…you’ve been through so much, I really wasn’t trying to act like it was just like some fun, wild adventure you were on. I know it’s been…probably a non-stop siege for you. I just meant to bring up where you’ve traveled, I didn’t mean to trivialize anything, I hope I didn’t just…”

“It’s fine, Alexandra,” Astra assured her, eyes soft. “I promise I won’t get emotional on you.”

“No, I mean—that’s not what I mean either,” Alex said. “You can get emotional around me. I mean, maybe not here, this wouldn’t be the best place for it. But. Y’know. Kara isn’t your only family here. You’ve got me. If you want me. I mean to talk to. I’m…you can talk to me if you want.”

Astra tilted her head, looking taken off-guard. “Well,” she said haltingly. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, I mean it’s cool,” Alex said with a tight, self-conscious shrug. She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, trying to think of something else to say, but just came up empty. 

“Anyway,” she said, clearing her throat. “You wanna watch me go kick alien butt at gambling?”

Astra smiled, seeming almost relieved by her awkwardness,  and followed her toward the floor.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Alex didn’t want to brag or anything, but she was sort of becoming a favorite among the alien crowd here. Most of them had taught their respective humans how to play the games for amusement, for show, and then took over themselves for the later rounds. 

None of them had ever seen a human completely _dominate_ this shit.

The Xviel table in particular had gained her quite an attentive audience. It was quite the set-up. The only way Alex really knew how to classify the game was if she thought about how it was kind of like mixing chess with craps with poker with twenty questions with settlers of catan, played at fucking lightning speed with an alphabet of glyphs that most humans had no comprehension of. There was absolutely nothing civil about this game. It was brutal.

Fortunately, Alex had been playing it with a Kryptonian since she was thirteen years old. Say what you wanted to about how _sweet_ Kara was—she was also smart as hell, and competitive as fuck. Alex had been taught by the best.

For the first few rounds, Astra stayed by her side, hand resting on her lower back. Alex tried not to read into it too much—she was supposed to be her pet-date thing, so it would probably look weird if they _weren’t_ in physical contact of some kind. But it felt like sometimes Astra was leaning into her a little more than was necessary, like maybe she was whispering a few too many tips into her ear. 

Alex was almost grateful when Astra told her quietly that she was going to drift to a couple of the other tables to see what she might overhear. That was a good thing. Alex was starting to get distracted. Alex was starting to _like_ getting distracted. She was starting to forget that they had an extremely important mission, and that, no matter how many games she won here, she wasn’t going to impress Astra, because Astra actually had the ability to think like a soldier. Like a general. Astra wasn’t getting swept up in any fantasies here, she was here to do her job.

Maybe if Alex cooled it with the drinking, she might have a clearer head, not be so focused on impressing Astra—although when she looked at her glass, she really hadn’t had that much to drink at all. The truth was, she couldn’t blame her behavior on this alien drink. She just…really wanted Astra to be impressed with her.

In any case, it was probably a good thing when Astra drifted away to schmooze elsewhere. It cleared Alex’s head. Let her refocus. More and more of these crime lords were coming over to remark on the human that was inexplicably demolishing everyone who challenged her at this ridiculous game. That was a good thing. She was a distraction. Astra could look around for the K stash this way.

Her eighth round in, Alex tensed up when a richly-dressed, seemingly male alien came up to her, with his human escort hooking elbows with him. They both sported the green handprint mark the host had said was essentially a down-to-fuck sign. As if this place wasn’t creepy enough, sure, fill it with a bunch of seedy alien swingers.

“So who do you belong to here?” the alien gentleman asked with a toothy, far too-interested smile. 

Alex bristled a little at the phrasing, but reminded herself to reel in her pride and pointed her chin over at where Astra was speaking to someone in a full-on pinstripe suit.

“Well isn’t she lovely,” the alien commented, which was more than true, but there was something almost slimy about the way he said it, and Alex’s defenses rose reflexively.

“Yeah, she is,” she said. “And I think you’ll notice a lack of green mark on her, and me for that matter.”

The alien raised his eyebrows. Or…his eyebrow area. There weren’t any actual eyebrows themselves. “Are you suggesting I was angling toward something?” he asked.

“Were you?”

Thin lips curved and tightened. “I don’t make it a habit to fish in my own pools,” he said. “Just take the compliment.”

He swept off with a sneer, his human trailing quickly in his wake.

_I don’t make it a habit to fish in my own pools._

Alex set aside her hand for the next Xviel round, heading over toward Astra.

“Hey!” the game’s facilitator shouted after her. “You leave now, you forfeit your hand for this round!”

“Yeah yeah,” Alex dismissed, waving him off. She caught up to where Astra had one hand braced on a poker table, in deep, noticeably irritated conversation with a human woman.

“Astra, can I talk to you for a sec?” she interrupted. Not waiting for an answer from either her, or the human woman, she pulled the Kryptonian over to a relatively private area of the venue.

“I think I’ve ID’d our kingpin,” she said quietly. She nodded at the toothy man she’d just spoken with who was making his way over to one of the reserved booths across the room.

Astra tracked him with her eyes. “We should follow him,” she said, “make sure we don’t lose him in this crowd.”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed, then looked at her carefully. “You look kind of pale, are you okay?”

Astra gave her a look, proud, insulted, but really…surprisingly pale. Unhealthy.

“I hate to say it, but you might have been right,” she said. “I went by the teller’s corner…I almost immediately started feeling sick. It’s possible my Kryptonite inhibitor doesn’t work as well against this synthetic compound. As you speculated.”

“Oh. Shit, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Astra said, waving off her concern. “It’s not as debilitating as being exposed to pure Kryptonite, but it’s not exactly pleasant either. In any case, it’s the teller. I doubt the weapons are hidden behind there, but the rest of the prizes these people have been gambling for have already been moved behind the counter. If we can just find where the weapons are, we’ll have sufficient cause for the DEO to come in and make their arrests.”

“Well, why don’t we sit down for a sec,” Alex suggested, still concerned. “Let you catch your breath. We can keep an eye on the kingpin from those booths there.”

For a moment it looked like Astra was going to protest the idea of sitting, but she conceded with a sigh, allowing Alex to pull her over to one of the booths where they would have a good vantage point of the kingpin and his human. Alex let Astra slide in first, then followed in making sure she could provide a solid barrier between Astra and anything that might rattle her further than was necessary.

They sat and drank in silence for a time. Alex kept her need to ask Astra if she was okay for the millionth time in check. She hated when people did that to her, and imagined Astra was probably the same. Astra took pride in her strength, and would be humiliated if anyone tried to coddle her, or even just draw attention to a moment of weakness.

Still, though. Alex couldn’t help but want to do _something_ to make sure she was okay. 

“You’re, um,” she said, annoyed because she’d opened her mouth without actually coming up with something to say afterward. “This is…you’re doing a good job with this.”

Astra turned her head and looked at her dubiously.

“This?” she asked.

“Yeah. Just. This. Y’know. Adapting to things here. Working with Kara, and the DEO, and me. I know it can’t be easy.”

“Well I appreciate the sentiment,” Astra said. “I don’t always know if that’s true. Things like this especially…”

She broke off, looking uncomfortable. Alex stayed quiet, letting her gather her thoughts.

“This isn’t how I normally operate,” Astra said finally. “This _undercover,_ sneaking around, lying. It’s…I don’t know, it’s strange.”

Alex nodded. “No, I get that,” she said. “You value honesty, and bravery. I’ll bet this is kind of a weird feeling.”

“I’m used to being at the forefront of a fight,” Astra said in agreement, “not tricking people from the shadows.”

“I’ve noticed,” Alex said, smiling at her. “You’ve got this whole…proud warrior thing going, and it’s one of the things I really admire about you. I just want you to know, I mean I know this is a different way of going about things, but it’s not cowardly. It’s a different way of fighting a war, but it doesn’t mean you’re any less brave.”

Astra held her gaze for a long time, like she was weighing her words. “Thank you for saying that, Alexandra,” she said finally. “It means a lot. Especially coming from you.”

Alex smiled, heat rushing to her face. She started to say something more, when an announcement was made over the loudspeaker.

“In fifteen minutes we will be beginning the auction,” the crackled voice said. “Game tables are officially closed for the evening. A reminder, K prizes can be collected at the teller following the auction. Now is your final opportunity to take advantage of our staff services. If you wish to be marked, now is your last chance to do so. We will have members of the staff going around to check in with you.”

Astra made a disgusted face. “I’ve already been propositioned three times for this,” she mumbled agitatedly, “in spite of very distinctly not wearing a green mark.”

 _“Three_ times?” Alex blurted out.

Astra raised her eyebrows. “Was that shock, or jealousy I just heard in your voice?” she asked.

“Not—neither,” Alex scoffed, looking up at the ceiling. “I mean, _I_ was propositioned too, y’know.”

“Were you.”

That sounded like a growl. Was that a growl?

“Yeah, I was,” Alex said, holding her head high. “By our kingpin, if you must know.”

 _“What?”_ Astra demanded.

“Okay, that tone of surprise was kind of unnecessary,” Alex grumbled. “I’ll have you know several members of this elite crime group happen to think I’m an _adorable_ pet human, and you’re lucky to have me.”

Astra gave her a look. It was strangely…personal. Defensive. Almost angry.

“That’s—I…”

Alex raised her eyebrows at the normally composed general’s frustrated stammer.

“What?” she prompted.

Astra shook her head quickly, blowing out an angry breath. “Nothing,” she said. “I just…this is exactly why I didn’t want to bring you here.”

Alex cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

“You should never be put in a position like this, Alexandra,” Astra told her fiercely. “You’re too…you’re too good for this place, for these people, the way they demean you. You’re not some…groveling…simpering…I don’t even know the word. But no one should ever treat you like you’re lower than them, like you’re a pet—not even as a pretense, not even for a mission like this.”

Alex blinked at her in surprise. “You didn’t want me to come on this mission…because you were trying to protect my _pride?”_ she asked. She grinned suddenly. “Interesting you didn’t care about _Winn_ playing the part of a lowly pet.”

“Well I’ve seen Winn—what’s the term Kara used— _fangirl out_ about things,” Astra said, and Alex couldn’t help but laugh. “About Kal, about those television shows, his toys, et cetera. I thought he’d make for a good fanatic.”

“You’re not wrong there,” Alex said, grinning. “But, y’know, I don’t mind this. This you and me thing. I think we make a good team.”

“Is that why you were so eager to come with me?” Astra asked. “Eager enough that you tried to get me to fight you for the chance to be part of my team?”

Alex flushed a little, but got herself quickly under control. “I didn’t like the idea of you going alone—well, going alone with a limp noodle—into a place chock full of Kryptonite,” she confessed. “I don’t like to think about what could happen to you. I mean I don’t think I could ever let Kara lose another part of her family, of her world.”

She flicked the side of her drink, making it _ping_ dully. “I also— _I_ don’t want to lose you either, Astra,” she added more quietly. “I just…I just really never want to lose you.”

Astra held her gaze, looking taken off guard, really beautifully so. It was almost sad.

Looking at Astra like this, things very suddenly crashed into place in Alex’s mind. She was in deep here. Way, way in deep with Astra. It wasn’t just that she didn’t want to _lose_ Astra, it was that she was pretty sure she’d do anything to _keep_ her. Keep her here, keep her safe, both from the Kryptonite threat, and every haunted second of her past. That’s why Alex was here, she just wanted to protect her. 

She was suddenly overcome with the most inconvenient need to kiss her, to make her understand how cared for she was. She realized kissing her was what she’d been wanting to do all night, probably before, probably for a long time now. 

She cleared her throat.

“So. Are you feeling any better?” she asked, cursing her cowardice, but also a little bit thankful for it given the situation. “I was just thinking we should probably make another round of the premises and see if we can find the weapons stash while everyone’s busy hooking up here.”

Astra held her gaze for another moment before nodding. “Maybe you should stay here while I look around,” she said. “We don’t want to risk losing sight of our kingpin.”

Alex looked reluctantly over at where their target was engaged with several of tonight’s guests, looking over the ones with marks.

“I don’t think he’s gonna be going anywhere anytime soon,” Alex said, jutting her chin at him.

Astra raised her eyebrows in faint disgust. “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am. Besides, like I said, I’m not about to let you walk right into a room full of Kryptonite, synthetic or no. We’re partners. Remember?”

There was something sort of vulnerable about the smile Astra gave her, and Alex’s stomach flipped uncomfortably, so she stood, allowing Astra to slide out of the booth.

“We should probably get another drink,” she said, “blend in a little better.”

Astra nodded, following her over to the bar. 

“Hey,” Alex said, catching the bartender’s attention. “Could we get some more of that blue…moon stuff?”

“Sorry, we’re actually done serving that for the night,” the bartender told them.

Alex frowned at the five very full bottles of the stuff on the wall behind him. “I mean…don’t you kind of have plenty?” she asked.

“Sorry, ma’am,” he said, a little stiffly, gaze shooting to Astra. “It’s either the green, or it’s water.”

“Uhhh…sure, I guess we could do the green then,” Alex said, looking at Astra for confirmation. “Probably end up with green lips like that other couple, but…could be good?”

Astra shrugged and Alex nodded in relief. There would be absolutely nothing weirder than the two of them walking around with bottles of water, very obviously looking for something.

The bartender slid their drinks over and Alex took a sip. She grinned at him, unnerved by the way his gaze seemed to pierce Astra, then turned away, leading the way toward some of the back aisles.

“How is it?” Astra asked her. “I’m not sure I want to risk the green lips if it tastes bad.”

“It tastes pretty gross, actually,” Alex said honestly. She smacked her lips. “Way too sweet.”

She took another sip of it anyway. “Hey, do you see that guy?” she asked, peering over Astra’s shoulder. Astra followed her gaze to the man Alex was looking at, the one headed for one of the back aisles at the far wall. “I think he’s the kingpin’s human. Twenty bucks says he’s headed for wherever they’re stashing the weapons.”

Astra nodded, taking her hand. 

Alex did her best not to stumble as Astra pulled her gently along toward where the kingpin’s human had disappeared. Taking one last look over their shoulders, they turned the corner into the corridor. 

They halted abruptly. There was no sign of the kingpin’s human. There were no doors, no rooms…nothing.

“He came through this way, didn’t he?” Alex asked.

Astra nodded, brow drawn in confusion.

Alex cursed under her breath as she saw the host that had greeted them initially approaching from afar. She had the sneaking suspicion they had been tasked with chasing away guests who were poking around places they shouldn’t be.

Fuck it.

There were better ways of tricking people into thinking one wasn’t searching for a weapons stash room than shoving one’s partner up against the wall and kissing her, but Alex kind of wasn’t thinking all that straight right now. So that’s what she did.

Astra made a small sound of surprise as Alex took her hips and pushed her against the wall, and another when Alex captured her lips with her own. For a second, Astra stayed frozen, probably shocked, but then she softened all of a sudden, one hand reaching up to cup Alex’s cheek.

Alex would have given just about anything to actually enjoy this moment—this was, god this was all she’d wanted to do all night. She wanted to savor this, she wanted to memorize every sensation, take her time, feel every curve of her…

Unfortunately, this was just about the least romantic thing she could have done, given that it was purely for the excuse of throwing that host off their trail.

She separated from Astra after a moment, peeking over her shoulder to see that yes, that friendly host from before must have turned away, not wanting to disturb the “beautiful couple” they’d been so thrilled about before. 

“Sorry,” she breathed, turning back to Astra. “I was just…”

“…Trying to distract the host, I know,” Astra said. Her eyes were wide, though, pupils surprisingly dark. She glanced over Alex’s shoulder. “Actually…I think there’s another one headed over.”

“Oh—shit, maybe we should— _umph!”_

Apparently Astra had decided Alex’s methods for throwing the hosts off their trail was a good one. She threaded her fingers through Alex’s hair and pulled her in, replicating the purely-for-distraction kiss from before.

Actually, no. No it was definitely not a replication of what Alex had done. Astra was…a lot more convincing about this than Alex’s impulsive fumble. She was really…this was a lot more…

Alex hummed against her lips in pleasure. Astra was taking her time, kissing slowly, savoring the way Alex had wanted to before. If this was meant to be a distraction, god was it ever a good one. Alex sighed at the feeling of her tongue swiping softly at the seam of her lips, moaned when she parted for her. The first touch of tongues sent her head spinning and she couldn’t help but press in closer, pushing her thigh between Astra’s legs.

Astra moaned, and Alex felt her slide one leg up. Alex caught her at the back of her knee, helping her hook her leg over her hip, and pushed her hands up under the skirt, kneading at the underside of her thigh.

Astra broke away from her mouth with a moan, and Alex dragged her lips across her jaw to her ear, trying to reel in her senses because that had felt a little real, especially with the way that Astra was pressing against her thigh.

“Are they, um…” Alex murmured in her ear. “Are they gone?”

“Hm?” Astra asked, then stiffened suddenly. “Oh—right. Yes, they’re gone, we should probably stop…or wait, I’m pretty sure there’s another one.”

“So we should—“

“—Definitely—“

They sort of crashed back into each other, heavier, harder than before. It felt much too real, and Alex was going to lie to herself, just for now, and pretend it was. She reveled in soft skin that belied powerful muscles beneath, wanted to kiss and bite her way down the cords of Astra’s neck, pull her hair out of that bun and let it fall in those thick dark curls she’d often pictured burying her fingers in.

Probably not a good idea right now.

They kissed for too long—there definitely weren’t anymore hosts who needed to be fooled into thinking they weren’t snooping around, they should stop, they really should. 

No, but really, they should.

Alex was both proud of herself, and hateful of herself, when she managed to pull away first. The mission. The K stash. Those were kind of important things.

“We should, um…” she said, and Astra nodded quickly, licking her lips. Alex helped her ease her leg back down, and stepped back, frankly pretty amazed to find that neither of them had spilled their drinks. At least not too much.

“Right, so uh, there’s probably—there’s probably like a door or something here,” Alex said, clearing her throat and looking very intensely at the walls because looking at Astra again seemed like probably a bad idea.

“That would make sense,” Astra agreed, voice clipped as she sort of aggressively smoothed down her dress.

They spread out to opposite sides of the corridor to search for any kind of hatch, or entryway somewhere, and Alex tried to pretend her hands weren’t shaking with leftover excitement at having just kissed Astra like that. Now was not the time to linger on memories of Astra’s hands on her, and _definitely_ not the time to think about how fucking muscular that leg was hooked over her hips, or wonder what it would be like to have _both_ those legs wrapped around her…

“Alexandra,” Astra hissed to get her attention. She beckoned her toward the back of the corridor.  Alex looked down at the wooden slat of the wall where there was a subtle pattern of ten indents.

“What do you think that is?” Alex asked her.

But Astra was looking at them in a way Alex had come to recognize from having seen Kara do it so many times—she was using her x-ray vision.

“It’s a door,” Astra said. “There’s a hall beyond this, and a room further beyond that.”

“Can you see what’s in the room?” Alex asked.

“I can. And I think it’s appropriate for me to use the word ‘jackpot’ here.”

“You found the weapons stash.”

Astra nodded, then looked back down at the wood indents. “I think these indents are a key code,” she mused. “I can see fingerprints…” She looked closer, then pressed eight of them in a carefully calculated order. 

She and Alex stepped backward in surprise as half the slats on the wall slid back, opening into a dimly lit corridor beyond. They looked at each other for confirmation, then stepped warily through the entrance.

No sooner had they turned the corner when there was a shout of, “Hey!” and a second of, “You’re not allowed back here!”

The two of them wheeled to find a pair of almost identical broad-shouldered men with guns leveled directly for them.

Alex grabbed Astra’s arm. “Pretendtobedrunk,” she muttered under her breath.

“What?”

“Pretend to be drunk,” she said clearer. Then she took a clumsy step toward the two armed men. “Heyyy,” she slurred, walking teeteringly over to them. “We’re we looking—“ she interrupted herself to take a sip of her drink, “—we were jus’ looking for the bathroom, do you know where…?”

She snapped her hand out, twisting the first man’s arm around and wrenching the gun from his hand. The second man wheeled on her in alarm, finger pulling the trigger, but Astra was there before the bullet even left the chamber, covering Alex with her body.

The bullet ricocheted harmlessly off of her, and she threw him headlong into the wall while Alex hooked her leg down and around to break the other man’s leg. He howled and made a dive for his gun, but Alex got their first, swinging it around to crack him in the back of the head. He dropped unconscious to the floor, almost in unison with his partner.

Alex looked over at Astra, unable to stop herself from grinning at how perfectly timed their movements had been. Almost like a dance. Astra was grinning back, and held out her glass that was still somehow intact. Alex held out her own more cracked one as well, clinking the side of it against Astra’s in cheers, then tipped the rest of the drink back.

“Yelch,” she said, smacking her lips and shuddering. “That really is way too swee—Astra?”

She dropped her glass in alarm, jumping forward to catch Astra in her arms as the Kryptonian stumbled and pitched forward, eyes wide in unseen pain. 

“Astra!” she exclaimed again, falling to her knees with her. Her panic rose as drops of green liquid from the drink dribbled out of her mouth, and the Kryptonian began to shake in her arms. “Fuck—what the fuck, Astra!”

She whipped her head around at the sound of a _click_ behind her, and felt her face drain at the sight of the bartender standing there with a glock pointed directly at her head.

He nodded his head at Astra. “I _thought_ she looked like she got pale when she passed by the teller,” he growled. “Didn’t realize we had more Kryptonians to be aware of.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Alex demanded fiercely, her voice shaking.

“Kryptonite in the green drinks,” the bartender answered simply. “She acted strange around where the K prizes are being held. I wasn’t sure she was Kryptonian, but it looks like I was right. You want to tell me what a Kryptonian is doing sneaking around back here?”

“You have to help her,” Alex gritted out, ignoring the question. _“Please.”_

“Ah, I’m afraid no can do,” he said with an easy shrug. “Got an auction to get to. K’s not gonna sell itself. That shit spoils, unlike the pure stuff.”

Alex frowned, holding tighter as Astra convulsed. “You did this,” she said, realizing through her waves of panic. “You manufactured it. You’re the kingpin.”

He tilted the glock in a modest shrug. “Guilty,” he said simply, and his finger moved on the trigger.

He never had time to fire—beams of blue blazed up from Astra’s eyes, piercing through his shoulder, knocking the gun from his hands and sending him flying. His head hit the far wall and he crumpled, sprawled beside his two fallen armed guards.

“Astra!” Alex exclaimed, helping her sit up. The Kryptonian was deathly pale, body still trembling as she coughed up spurts of the Kryptonite drink, but she seemed aware of her surroundings. “You’re okay!”

“Not quite the word…I would’ve chosen…” Astra breathed. She shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut. “The inhibitor was…a lucky break…though…”

Alex blew out a relieved breath of air, looking down gratefully at the blue Kryptonite inhibitor glowing subtly from the left strap of Astra’s dress. 

“Can you stand?” Alex asked her.

She felt Astra’s body tighten in her arms, trying to wrestle her muscles under control. She shook her head after a moment though, shuddering again. “Sorry…Alex…”

“It’s alright, you’re fine,” Alex said. “Can you—are your comms still working?”

“Should be…” Astra breathed.

Alex helped her lift her hand to her ear, pressing down so she could speak.

“J’onn,” Astra said, making more of an effort behind making her voice sound steady. “We have…kingpin apprehended…located Kryptonite…been weaponized, sold…all guests guilty of…illegal weapons…purchases…we need a strike team…and immediate…extraction…”

Alex perked her ears, able to make out J’onn’s voice just slightly over the comms. She couldn’t hear all of it, but it was pretty clear he hadn’t understood much of what Astra had just said.

“J’onn, we’ve got the kingpin ID’d and apprehended with us, and all synthetic K located,” Alex said loudly. “It’s been weaponized and is being sold as such, so all guests here are culpable. We need a strike team ASAP, and immediate extraction—Astra just downed a full shot of synthetic K.”

There was a loud, angry exclamation of _“Alex?”_ from the other end of the comms.

Astra breathed out a weak chuckle. “Couldn’t stop her from coming,” she told him.

She seemed to be listening for a moment, then hummed some kind of affirmation, before dropping her hand from her ear and lifting her gaze up at Alex.

“He says the strike team’s…on its way…five…maybe ten minutes,” she said. “He also says you’re…in big trouble…for disobeying…direct orders.”

“He’ll get over it,” Alex said dismissively. “What about you? Do you think the Kryptonite’s wearing off at all?”

“If it is…it’s doing a poor job…showing it…” Astra said.

Alex glanced over at the kingpin and his two dupes. They all seemed completely out cold, but she was nervous. “I could get you some water?” she suggested warily. “I mean I don’t know if I should leave you here in case any of them wake up, but…”

Astra shook her head. “Team’s on the way,” she huffed. “I can wait them out. Just…stay with me.”

Alex nodded, and helped her shift back against the wall, sitting beside her so the Kryptonian could lean her head against her shoulder. She circled her arms around her, holding her close.

“More comfortable?” she asked, and felt Astra nod against her shoulder. She exhaled slowly, relief at Astra’s inhibitor kicking in flooding through her. She brushed her thumbs back and forth over Astra’s skin, inhaled the sweet scent of her hair.

“Now see, aren’t you glad you brought me along?” she asked after a moment.

“Alexandra,” Astra grumbled, apparently strong enough to very clearly convey annoyance.

Alex laughed and angled her head so she could rest her chin on Astra’s head. Holding her. Protective. They stayed that way, close, and silent, simply breathing together until the strike team arrived, and Alex continued to hold her the entire ride to the med bay.

*

The following evening was much nicer. More what someone would actually expect on a night off.

Alex sat back in the chair on her balcony, feet resting up on the rails, sipping a beer as she gazed up at the night sky. She had spent much of the day helping confiscate and label every bit of synthetic K they had found at the club, and then cloistering herself down in the labs to try to deconstruct the formula their kingpin had used to create it. 

Every couple of hours she had gone to the med bay to pester the doctors there to let her see Astra. They always shooed her away, telling her she was just fine, but needed rest. _Tomorrow,_ they said. _You can come back and see her tomorrow._

A slow twist of a smirk curled at the corner of her lips as she gazed upward and saw that tomorrow was coming early—Astra, apparently having been flying above the city, was drifting down toward her, perching herself down on the railing.

“Hey,” Alex said, somehow not all that surprised at the strange appearance of her unexpected guest. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting?”

Astra shook her head. “I think your doctors were just trying to kill me with boredom,” she said. “Besides, I had better things to do.”

“Like…picking flowers?” Alex asked, peering pointedly at the small bouquet of white and gold Astra was gripping tightly in her right hand.

“Buying them,” Astra corrected. She handed them over to Alex a little stiffly.

Alex took them, looking them over in surprise. “What are these for?” she asked.

“A thank you for being my date last night,” Astra said, and Alex laughed. “I know it wasn’t real, and probably not what most would refer to as a typical date, but somehow I think even if it had been real, a first date with you would likely be equally disastrous.”

Alex grinned, trying to hide her sudden spike of nervousness. “I mean, not _all_ of it was a disaster,” she said. “Right? I mean, some of it was…sort of fun?”

“There were a few good moments I could name,” Astra admitted, a surprising tease in her voice. “In between the disasters.”

Alex got to her feet, setting the flowers down on the seat. “You know,” she said, taking a daring step forward, “second dates tend to go a lot better than first dates.”

Astra lifted an eyebrow. “Is that right?”

“Mm-hm. Traditionally speaking, there’s a lot less mortal combat, and almost zero chance of Kryptonite poisoning.”

“Interesting,” Astra mused.

“I’m just saying,” Alex said, taking another step forward, “if you were curious…we could always pretend last night was a _real_ first date, and go ahead and skip over to the second one. If you wanted.”

Astra smiled and slid off the railing so she was standing directly in front of Alex, only inches between them.

“That sounds reasonable,” she said. “And in that case, I would like to formally ask you out on a second date.”

Alex snorted. “Wow, flowers and a formal invitation,” she laughed. “Who knew you were such a gentleman. Although you _did_ kiss me on our first date, so that’s taking things a _little_ fast for a gentleman…”

“Well, given that it wasn’t a _real_ first date,” Astra said, “I’m not sure it counted as a real kiss. But now that we’re officially headed for our _second_ date, a _real_ one…is it appropriate to kiss then?”

Alex grinned at her, and pushed her back against the railing. “You tell me,” she said, and Astra pulled her in by the front of her shirt.

As far as real first kisses went, Alex couldn’t have been happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Date number 2 went spectacularly in case anyone was wondering)


End file.
